This House Has People in It

Im obsessed with the mysteries of this show. I have explored and investigated everything i could find. Every little detail is important and mind-blowing. Truly a masterpiece.

The odd Adult Swim "infomercials" series of sorts contains practically all of their best content (other than, obviously, Tim and Eric and The Eric Andre Show), and seems to be where they let their creators really have fun and go mad at play. Directed by the brilliant and twisted humorist, satirist, performance artist, and horror filmmaker Alan Resnick, the Adult Swim crew's own mini David Lynch, 'This House Has People in It' is unapologetically bizarre and occasionally confusing. It is an uncomfortable and genuinely quite creepy combo of comedy and chaos. It is surreal and scary and surprisingly hilarious, very much like practically every project worked upon by Mr. Resnick, and I love the man for it! Now, I am in all probability off to view various analysis videos of this along with a boatload of disturbed rewatchings!

One day, a family is about to celebrate their son's birthday party,when something strange begins to occur.

This short film is what all horror movies should stride to be. It didn't scare me because I though a jump scare would happen, it scared me because of the unknown.

This short film is very similar to the likes of "Too Many Cooks" and "Unedited Footage of a Bear". This film being made by the same people that made "Unedited Footage of a Bear", it's a great improvement. While "Unedited Footage of a Bear" tried to subtly teach us a lesson, "This House Has People in It" is just good old horror.

This short horror movie will definitely be up there with the likes of "The Blair Witch Project" and "Alien". Check it out as soon as you can -HashtagBrownies

I'll forgo a synopsis of 'This House Has People In It" because one can find and read it elsewhere. At first I thought the idea of using only security video footage to tell a story was a novel and interesting one but when the point of view changed such that it was impossible for the security camera to have captured it, the effect was jarring and annoying. That was my first gripe. My second was the response of the couple when they realized the unconscious girl had a problem. Who would not call 911 immediately? But they didn't and their odd behavior failed to suspend my disbelief. Then there was the peppering of viewer YouTube videos explaining THHPII. Most of the videos were longer than the original, some much longer. If a story needs to be explained then perhaps the story wasn't told well. I understand vague references are clever. I delight in esoterica but inside jokes and obscura do not a good story make. This House Has People In It spent too much time trying to show how smart it was. The final result was not as bad as, say, Plan Nine From Outer Space, but it wasn't nearly as much fun either. But it was mercifully shorter.

This is what happens when someone observes the bizarre fad of "planking" and says to themselves, "I could make a movie out of that."

If we don't let our cynicism overwhelm our suspension of disbelief, then 'This house has people in it' is duly unsettling. Preparing for their son's birthday party, a young couple has an argument in the kitchen. It's a very curious thing, that their teenage daughter is lying on the floor in an act of apparent rebellious disobedience, and they readily ignore her casually disruptive behavior as the passing phase that it is. Until it becomes clear something else is going on.

The surreal occurrence in the kitchen gives way to other parts of the house unraveling, and we get to watch it all through the security cameras that have a (seemingly impossibly mobile) eye on each room. As the scenario unfolds, more things continue to go wrong, further building the unease of the short, culminating in a climactic unexplained event.

I appreciate the simplicity here. Each scene is depicted as an apparent recording of the events on a VHS tape, which is a little anachronistic since the short itself dates the events to 2015, when VHS was already mostly forgotten as a format. But still, the inherent nostalgia lends a small bit of credibility to the scenario, aiding our suspension of disbelief and fostering the notion that this is a thing that really happened, and could happen.

There's not a great deal of plot, and there's not a great deal to say. This is less an active narrative than the passive observation of events as they occur. It's odd, certainly, but with just the right helping of creepiness to keep us engaged.

'This house has people in it' isn't going to be for everyone or have broad appeal, but it's an intriguing watch if you're looking for something a bit different.